heidenau k60 scout review

[Brads]

Awritey.

Just a quick brief review of my findings so far. (1000 miles)

Fitted to my 2013 BMW GS1200 Adventure and bought for £140 a pair plus a tenner to fit. Not balanced.

Initial thoughts ; Oh my ! that front end is light ! The turn in seemed super light and the bars were easy to move while walking the bike, like very easy.

Oooh rumbly, maybe vague, compared to the pretty worn out tourances I just removed.

Further thoughts ; Getting better all the time. 600 mile round trip for beer at Ullapool and things are starting to bed in. So far only ridden in the wet and they felt fine.

Out today at nearly 1000 miles in and things are even better. They have worn in well and seem smoother to turn in. Grip has been fine and as the weather was good today I gave it some and was seriously pleased. Plenty grip with maybe only a little ABS intervention when hard braking the back in sharp turns at lower speeds.
Taken up to 100mph (my pretty much max these days) and the felt great. Not overly loud or rumbly and even unbalanced there was no vibration to speak of.

Off road thoughts ; Light trails were ace, riding ruts the front gripped well and rode out of and down into ruts with no drama. Back end dug in and they gave me more confidence (I`m shit off road) than any other combination yet. Mega chuffed .

1000 mile summary; Super pleased. If I get the mileage folk talk about, they may well be the best tyres yet.

[frenchy3]

I have read much about these tyres but it is nice to see a real world appraisal which has made my mind up to get these when my tyres need replacing.

Awritey.

Just a quick brief review of my findings so far. (1000 miles)

Fitted to my 2013 BMW GS1200 Adventure and bought for £140 a pair plus a tenner to fit. Not balanced.

Initial thoughts ; Oh my ! that front end is light ! The turn in seemed super light and the bars were easy to move while walking the bike, like very easy.

Oooh rumbly, maybe vague, compared to the pretty worn out tourances I just removed.

Further thoughts ; Getting better all the time. 600 mile round trip for beer at Ullapool and things are starting to bed in. So far only ridden in the wet and they felt fine.

Out today at nearly 1000 miles in and things are even better. They have worn in well and seem smoother to turn in. Grip has been fine and as the weather was good today I gave it some and was seriously pleased. Plenty grip with maybe only a little ABS intervention when hard braking the back in sharp turns at lower speeds.
Taken up to 100mph (my pretty much max these days) and the felt great. Not overly loud or rumbly and even unbalanced there was no vibration to speak of.

Off road thoughts ; Light trails were ace, riding ruts the front gripped well and rode out of and down into ruts with no drama. Back end dug in and they gave me more confidence (I`m shit off road) than any other combination yet. Mega chuffed .

1000 mile summary; Super pleased. If I get the mileage folk talk about, they may well be the best tyres yet.

[Simon_100]

Yup, they're great tyres. But for other newbies; IMHO it's important to wear off the silicon coating for a few hundred Kms before riding in the wet!

Also, the front is seriously bad in mud or slime ...

Otherwise, they're the dog's b*******s, enjoy! (thumbs)

Regs

Simon

[Old Git Ray]

Awritey.

Just a quick brief review of my findings so far. (1000 miles)

Fitted to my 2013 BMW GS1200 Adventure and bought for £140 a pair plus a tenner to fit. Not balanced.

Initial thoughts ; Oh my ! that front end is light ! The turn in seemed super light and the bars were easy to move while walking the bike, like very easy.

Oooh rumbly, maybe vague, compared to the pretty worn out tourances I just removed.

Further thoughts ; Getting better all the time. 600 mile round trip for beer at Ullapool and things are starting to bed in. So far only ridden in the wet and they felt fine.

Out today at nearly 1000 miles in and things are even better. They have worn in well and seem smoother to turn in. Grip has been fine and as the weather was good today I gave it some and was seriously pleased. Plenty grip with maybe only a little ABS intervention when hard braking the back in sharp turns at lower speeds.
Taken up to 100mph (my pretty much max these days) and the felt great. Not overly loud or rumbly and even unbalanced there was no vibration to speak of.

Off road thoughts ; Light trails were ace, riding ruts the front gripped well and rode out of and down into ruts with no drama. Back end dug in and they gave me more confidence (I`m shit off road) than any other combination yet. Mega chuffed .

1000 mile summary; Super pleased. If I get the mileage folk talk about, they may well be the best tyres yet.

When they wear they vibrate when leaned over - wierd at first till you figure out what it is. Good tyre for long trips but do be careful in the cold and wet when worn. My bike literally fell over on a mountain pass at a mere 25 mph.

[AustinW]

I have had two sets on my 2011 GSA covering about 35,000 miles in total on them. The best thing is that they last ages, and I mean ages. I changed the front of my last ones at something daft like 22,000miles and the tyre fitter even offered it back to me as it still had 3mm+ of tread. It had outlasted 2 rears which I had replaced just as the TWIs were showing. I can't get my head round the idea that a tyre can both last for that sort of mileage and have good grip at the same time. When new the grip, handling etc are just about OK IMHO as evidenced by the ABS kicking in very easily on what I think is light rear braking. I never got any weaves, vibrations or other poor characteristics other than a bit of road noise and slight knobbly buzz no matter how heavily loaded or at speeds up to 110ish. The tyres also seem to be as tough as old boots and i have had no punctures and the removed carcasses showed no sign of damage despite a few thousand miles on dirt roads in Canada, USA and Alaska as well as some light lanes and forestry tracks in England and Scotland.

The bad side is that new they feel great but as they wear that great feeling quickly goes and the rear tyre especially goes very square and handling and overall feel worsens until I couldn't wait to replace it. I know new tyres always feel good, but taking off a worn K60 and replacing with Avon Trail riders transformed the bike, my riding and especially my confidence on wet roads.

Having said all that if the current Avon trail riders are worn out before I go on my next big trip I would probably put K60s back on just for the longevity and toughness as they both trump grip on a trip where hooning about is low on the priority.

[GB]

Big thread here on the K60 http://www.adventurebikerider.com/forum ... -k60s.html They dont seem to last as long on the lighter bikes, 6000-7000miles on my 701, its a 140 so no centre band. Dont seem so hard to fit either, softer compound maybe?
Still my favourite all round tyre.

[Brads]

I know these tyres are still pretty new on my bike but I`ll update this as I wear them further.

So far so good though.

Did I mention they were £140 a pair ?

[gspod]

I agree with Simon - go easy in the wet for the first 100 miles, after that there're better than Tourances IMHO.

Can't agree with the squaring off I'm afraid - on my 1100 they really keep their shape right to the end with very high mileage ( record is 17K miles on the rear and over 20K miles for a front - but as I change them for my yearly holiday, whatever the condition, the average mileage is lower - I've used 4 rear tyres in 65K).

I've never used them off road in this country but they're perfect for dry rocky trails in Europe such as the Stella or HISS.
(thumbs)

[Mike54]

Fellas, don't be under any illusions here, K60s are not offroad tyres. Any tyre will be fine on dry dirt e.g. I took my 1190R up to the top of honister slate mine on road tyres no problem on dry flinty slate.

K60's are rubbish on anything but dry dirt, of course they are since they're not knobblies. I know I am a bore about it but there is no such thing as a "dual sport" tyre. It's either a road tyre or a knobbly tyre, there can be no in between.

[crofty]

Another vote for the K60's mileage,but only in the 150 size with the centre rib. I had 14k out of a rear and it still had a few mm left. When I put a 120 on the crf250 it never achieved anything like that kind of wear.